>> 4 {audio}

[malfattore]

{click}

{a lazy inhale, and a slow Italian drawl}

Fuggendo tutte di paura piene,
una gran piova viene.
Qual sdrucciola, qual cade,
qual si punge lo pede:
a terra van ghirlande:
tal ciò c’ ha colto lascia, e tal percuote:
tiensi beata chi più correr puote.
Sì fiso stetti il dì che lor mirai.
ch’ io non m’ avvidi, e tutto mi bagnai.I dislike what I

Comments

Voice

[circus_bones]

Now that's a sad little song.

[And yet he can't bring himself to dislike it. Mainly because...well, there's familiarity in sadness.]

So yer a doc? That's good.

Voice

[malfattore]

It can be, depending on how you look at it. A sad song if you live it, perhaps. A useful tool if you learn from it.

{Rarely has the doctor been sad, though he can understand where one might extract such an emotion from the lines.}

I am. It's served me well in the past, and now here. I don't believe we've been introduced. You don't sound familiar...

Voice

[circus_bones]

Ah, yeah, it always comes down to which side of the hill yer on.

[He laughs a little. When he speaks again, his voice has perked up a little, his showmanship returned.]

Then allow me to do just that! I am Joker, ringleader of Anatole's very own Circus! I imagine a good many of your patients have had their breath taken away by yours truly!

[He laughs a little.]

Not fer good, of course.

[At least...not here.]

Voice

[malfattore]

{The voice, the presentation-- it almost reminds him a particularly irritating clown he knew back in Venice. The name, though, suggests otherwise. Cahin was never shy to let it be known who he was.}

Of course.

So. Joker, hmm? I wasn't aware there was a circus here in Anatole, aside from what... has apparently disappeared overnight. Where is it, exactly? {Or is it in his head? Doc should look into psychiatry as a side project.}

Out of curiosity, what puts you on the sad side of the hill?

Voice

[circus_bones]

Just look fer the gatherin' of tents and that's where ya'll find us! Ah...or ya could ask fer the old 'Little Touch of Sky' grounds.

[The place that was owned by a serial killer. That's what a lot of people would add to those directions.]

Ah, well...there's no point in goin' into all that. Sad stories don't make people smile!

Voice

[malfattore]

I'll... look into it, if I'm ever inclined to waste a few hours.

[Sounds like his kind of circus, as long as they have a Merry-Go-Stabintheface.]

I seriously doubt you could make me smile, amico. Regardless, I believe a sad story can make people smile. It depends on the people. [Usually it's the obituaries that make him crack a grin, so there's that.]

Voice - > Video

[circus_bones]

Ah, a challenge, is it? Alrighty then.

[Joker switches the video, tapping his cane against the Forge's screen.

But look again! The cane is now diamonds flowers.]

Fer you!

Video

[malfattore]

[A sigh, hollow through the carved features. Tilting the beak upward with a gloved thumb, he exposes the semblance beneath... or at least the mouth of it.]

[Not smiling.]

[Down goes the cover again, and then a shrug.]

Got anything else?

Video

[circus_bones]

[A sigh.]

There's always one in every crowd...I doubt ya'd like a balloon.

What about animals in cute outfits? I can see if Beast'll put a tutu on Betty, just this once.

Video

[malfattore]

[O-oh... ?]

What... is that? A balloon? I don't care about animals in clothes. Show me this balloon.

Video

[circus_bones]

...Really? Well now.

[Joker reaches into his jacket and pulls a red balloon out. He stretches it a couple of times before blowing it up. Oh! But the fun doesn't stop there! Once he ties it, he starts to bend and twist it, the balloon doing that annoying squeaking thing but hopefully worth it in the end.]

Ta-da!

[A balloon giraffe!

...

Don't front Malfatto, you know you're impressed.]

Video

[malfattore]

[HE IS.]

How did you...

[Everything about it, he's bewitched by. Even the screech it made, which had caused his head to twitch to one side reflexively, he loved. The color was a favourite. The animal familiar, though he couldn't claim to have met one in true form. Where did he get this?]

I want the balloon. When can you bring it to me?

Video

[circus_bones]

Eh?

[Joker arches a brow. Now, he is a damn fine balloon animal...maker. But he was thinking he'd probably have to swallow swords to impress this one.]

Ya like it, do ya?

[He grins and makes the animal dance across the Forge's screen.]

Yer in luck! It just so happens that this little guy is lookin' fer a new home!

Video

[malfattore]

[Really, he'd rather just reach through the Forge, strangle the clown and take the gd thing, but it's just not that easy, is it?]

I do like it, and I want it. Do you have more? I want several.

[Oh, for his Forge to click on accidentally while he's trying to twist a balloon into a poodle. It'd be a thing of beauty, it would.]

What else does the balloon do? It looks as if it could fly... can it?

Video

[circus_bones]

Now yer eager! I knew I'd get to ya! I'll bring ya a whole zoo! But ya gotta promise to drop by the circus sometime--

Ah. Yeah, if ya filled it with the right sorta thing, it would.